The inevitable – death, taxes and cyber-crime!

Well, whilst we might not have posted for a few weeks because of holidays and a busy work schedule, just like death and taxes, the cyber criminals haven’t been taking a summer break either.

A recently published article in The Register suggests more data records have been lost or stolen in the first 6 months of 2017 than were compromised in the whole of 2016! In fact its worse. The amount stolen in the first half of the year is up 38% on last year’s total. And in the league table of miscreants, the UK comes second only to the USA.

With GDPR fast approaching and its obligation upon organisations to report breaches. The apparent prevailing culture of, “say nothing and hope no one notices,” is likely to backfire. The number of reported incidents is predicted to increase. And, if companies are slow to report, or hope no one will notice, the private citizen who is affected by the loss of their data, possibly having their bank account compromised in the process, isn’t likely to be so silent.

So, for companies controlling or processing personal data, which has to just about be all of them, compliance with GDPR and the associated security of that data ought to be high on the board’s agenda. And yet, speaking at numerous cyber security events over the last few months, it is worrying that the number of business people who have even heard of GDPR, let alone understand the implications for their business, seem to be in the minority.

If you find yourself in the majority in this instance and would like some guidance, then why not call us, rather than get caught out next year?